25.8.06

Bustin' It Out

Coherence has never been my forte.Tough luck ... I've been writing this blog for about two years with a hit-or-miss mantra. Maybe you'll find something here. Maybe you'll dig it all -- or maybe just some of it -- but I'm hoping that you'll never leave empty handed.

That being said ... here I go dolling out the new music again.First Nation is this cute, yet so eerily creepy band from NYC. People have been saying that they're like Gang Gang Dance's take on Animal Collective. Which is, for the most part, true. They've got little sense of song structure, love noise and bizarre, far-from-perfect instrumentation, but are definitely good at pulling it all together. Their stuff is much warmer and accessible than you'd think.

Remember that surprise band from Nashville, De Novo Dahl? They're back, and loaded with more pop hooks than ever before. The new sound is a bit heavier (as in TMBG heavy ... it's still fun and bouncy), the vocals are more confident and stronger, the harmonies are all over the place (and good!), and the arrangements are just so awesome. Perfect pop blending of all those "key" elements (guitar, synth, keyboard, wicked awesome vocals and harmonies ... ) So exciting! (Oh, and they have cool new, uh ... costumes?)

Wolf Eyes is back back back! Their new album (out soon!) is called Human Animal, and that's such a fantastic name for it. I dug Wolf Eyes when they were purely hardcore and loud and crazed and maniacal, but they've added a more human element to their sound now. Granted, it's not a huge step -- there's still tons of screaming and wailing -- but their songs are more structured. They're more interested in experimentation and playing around with the subtler side of distortion and noise. Tre cool.